I dont like long term deals but if any player deserves it i think his name would be at the top of my list.

Dez- i think a lot of the higher end contracts are for guys who fill the building. Pretty easy for ovie to demand more then a brooks laich type of player. If i could have an ultimate shut down line id have richards laich with bergie centering.

As for the "injury concerns" - there will always be injury risks. The question for any long term deal is: are the benefits of locking the player in now worth the risks of having him go down to injury and sit on your LTIR. In Bergeron's case, the risks you avoid are a) someone else offers him a long term deal when he comes up as a UFA - assuming he chooses to go to UFA because you don't want to commit to him long term; b) when you re-sign him every year, he contines to deserve a cap hit in the top 30 in the league. If not higher (say he's a point/game 30 goal guy with Eriksson next year...). This gives you a core player to build around and, as time winds on and the Cap rises with inflation and everythign else, enough flexibility to build around him.

As for the "injury concerns" - there will always be injury risks. The question for any long term deal is: are the benefits of locking the player in now worth the risks of having him go down to injury and sit on your LTIR. In Bergeron's case, the risks you avoid are a) someone else offers him a long term deal when he comes up as a UFA - assuming he chooses to go to UFA because you don't want to commit to him long term; b) when you re-sign him every year, he contines to deserve a cap hit in the top 30 in the league. If not higher (say he's a point/game 30 goal guy with Eriksson next year...). This gives you a core player to build around and, as time winds on and the Cap rises with inflation and everythign else, enough flexibility to build around him.

Are you not entertained?!?!

Red, we better hope the cap goes up. With teams crying like ottawa and nj it scares me some.

Shupe, I'm really not that cap concerned - for the coming season the B's will have between 2.6 and 3 million in space, depending on how PC manipulates the LTIR execution for Savard. That gives an opportunity for trades at the deadline. Tight for sure but we always knew next year would be tight. Going forward, in 2014-2015 the projection is for the cap to be around 70 million again. The Bruins have 15 players signed for that year and a 70 million cap would give them 13,070,357 in space, depending on how many of his bonuses Iggy hits. The players not signed going into that season are Iggy, Thornton and Smith up front, Seid, Bart and Krug on the blueline and a backup. Those pieces should all be replaceable through other signings, RFA agreements or promotions. It may be tight, but it shouldn't be horrendous. Going forward from there, there should be a consistant rise in the cap per annum. Long term I don't see any major cap issues.

As for the "injury concerns" - there will always be injury risks. The question for any long term deal is: are the benefits of locking the player in now worth the risks of having him go down to injury and sit on your LTIR. In Bergeron's case, the risks you avoid are a) someone else offers him a long term deal when he comes up as a UFA - assuming he chooses to go to UFA because you don't want to commit to him long term; b) when you re-sign him every year, he contines to deserve a cap hit in the top 30 in the league. If not higher (say he's a point/game 30 goal guy with Eriksson next year...). This gives you a core player to build around and, as time winds on and the Cap rises with inflation and everythign else, enough flexibility to build around him.

Are you not entertained?!?!

Red, we better hope the cap goes up. With teams crying like ottawa and nj it scares me some.

those teams can cry all they want. for the next 7 years the split is 50-50. As long as people keep going to games, the cap goes up. The recent trend has been between 6-8%

“It would mean a lot,” Bergeron said on July 2. “That’s the goal since the beginning. It’s the team that believed in me when I was 18 and I was coming up. Now, it’s my home. I feel like it is. I love the city. I love the people. I definitely love the organization. It would mean a lot to me. Hopefully we can work something out.”

I have no concerns with Bergeron still playing at 36 and yah thrilled to have THE PRO here for 8 more years!

PB is a truly special player and worth every bloody cent of this contract. I thought it would be up against $7m/yr. This is a very good deal. I'm glad they got this done now. He'll be a Bruin for the next 9 seasons and 36 at the end of the contract. Maybe he'll even re-up for a couple more years after this deal.For those afraid of the concussion issue, give it up. Besides, they have insurance for such things (see: Savard, Marc) and you LTIR the guy and use the cap relief.

One of the game's very best players signed until he's 36 at $6.5 million per season? Yes please! There is a very legitimate argument to say that right now Bergeron is the best center in hockey, and one of the game's most valuable players. This isn't cheap, but it is a relative bargain.

Bergeron, Lucic, Chara and Rask... all pricey but all locked up for Bruins. I can say that I'm glad because those would be 4 players I would hate to play against for various reasons.

I want to make sure that I am consistent on this issue given my comments on Rask's deal. That is a lot of years and a lot of money to commit to a player. That being said - I feel much better about Bergeron's deal than I do Rask's. Glad he is here to stay. Now I can start pushing my personal agenda about him wearing the 'C' instead of Chara.

By the end of this contract he'll have been a member of the Bruins for 19 years (though only 18 seasons due to the first lockout) That will put him third all-time for Boston behind Bourque and Bucyk. I'm more than fine with that.

Buyck, Bourque and Bergeron. Three of the greatest B's of all time. Glad to see the Bruins best all round player locked up. As Dez said when he got hurt the Bruins chances of winning took a hit.

Lambda - Agreed...overtaking Chara as captain is a tall task (pun intended?). Maybe it's my personal bias (most likely explanation), but I feel like Bergeron is more captain-like. I would want to play for a captain who sets a great example on and off the ice and plays hard at both ends of the ice. That describes both Chara and Bergeron, but I think Charas's success is derived from being a 7-foot behemoth who's physical fitness allows him to play 30+ minutes per night while Bergeron's success comes more from hustle, smarts, and hard work. Maybe it is because Chara is getting older and his minutes will decrease going forward while Bergeron is the team's most important skater going forward. Maybe it is because the torch needs to be passed eventually and Bergeron is long past due for deserving it. Maybe it's because I can relate more to a hard working 6'1 French-Canadian than I can 6'9 Slovakian freak of nature.

Love the player, love the fact that he's going to be here a while. Now, just now I might go out and by a Bergeron t-shirt or something.

People will throw stats at me but I say Bergeron, and trying not to be a homer, top 10 players in the game today, slotted somewhere between 5-7???

Anyones thoughts?

Among forwards certainly a top 10 - I'd have him as top two in all-around, behind Datsyuk and ahead of Toews, and then you have to figure out how fits in, given his different style of game, with the offensive heavyweights like Crosby, Malkin, Stamkos, Ovi,and Tavares et al. For best in the game, names like Chara, Weber and Lundqvist starting popping up as well.

Love the player, love the fact that he's going to be here a while. Now, just now I might go out and by a Bergeron t-shirt or something.

People will throw stats at me but I say Bergeron, and trying not to be a homer, top 10 players in the game today, slotted somewhere between 5-7???

Anyones thoughts?

Depends kelv. If you had 10 players you could pick up i dont think many outside the bruins take him. I love the fact there are so many intelligent people in here that realize and understand every aspect of hockey. as a compete player you couldnt ask for much more. He reminds me a lot of guy carbonneau.